Self-driving cars have not yet made it to U.S. roadways but already the technology is moving on. Now scientists have designed a vehicle that taught itself how to drive by watching humans drive.

Research into the so-called ‘artificial intelligence’ involves designing computers that mimic the human neural network, including ability to synthesize the acquired data and draw logical conclusions.

Engineers from the California-based technology company Nvidia equipped two cars with computers and three video cameras each.

Design of a Self-driving car

The system ‘watched’ persons driving the cars as well as the environment around them, such as road features, other cars and pedestrians. The data was combined with recordings of the steering wheel angles.

After only 72 hours of training with three cameras and two computers, the system used only one camera and one computer to drive autonomously. The car demonstrated that it can learn to follow the road even in rain, snow and after dark.

Nvidia says the system is not ready for production but that it points to the direction where autonomous car production is likely to go.